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Id say he had a great career, and was an excellent addition to any team he played for. I was glad he was with the Astros and was a lot of fun to watch. Lets not worry about the hof talk and just admire the guy for the years of great baseball.
I think he meets the criteria for a borderline candidate. Take a look at his NL stats from 2001-2010.
He's essentially top 5 for almost every important category. Especially look at his total WAR. He wasn't good; he was great. And he was greatly underrated for most of his career.
I'm glad he decided to leave now. It's too bad he never won a championship. I know that's what he wanted more than anything.
Do I believe he's a future HOFer? It all depends on how pitchers are judged in the next twenty years.
Personally I thought he was on his way after the 2010 season (he lead the NL in WHIP).
He needed maybe 3-5 more good years to be truly considered. I think he needed that 200 wins.
He was very close to 2000 Ks as well. I'm sure there are many pitchers who took much longer to accumulate those totals.
Getting to 300 wins is such an outdated and enormous task. 3,000 Ks is a more reachable, but still a difficult milestone.
Yea I'm pretty sad to see him go. I have never collected anything more extensively than his cards.
I tracked every single one of his games. I know so many of his stats by heart.
So many great moments. This is a tough day for me.